God Says, "Come Fly With Me!"

“He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might, He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary” (Isa. 40:29-30).

Hey Gang:  My big brother was my idol.  He was intelligent, knew where he wanted to go with his life and had the will to make sure that he achieved the goals that he wanted to accomplish in his life.  As a young lad growing in the mountains of Pennsylvania, he looked up one day and saw an airplane and vowed that day he would be a pilot and from that day on he began to prepare to join the birds in the skies.

So, since he was my idol, I wanted to follow his lead and also become a pilot.  After flunking out of college for the third time and the dean telling me at the rate I was going it would take me seventeen years to graduate, he thought I might want to consider taking some time off and growing up a bit.  I did fool him, it only took me twelve years to get my degree, but he was right, I did a heap of growing up in that time away from college.  

At that time we were in the mist of the Korean Police Action and I received one of those letters that began “Your friends and neighbors have chosen you to be a warrior for Uncle Sam.”  As long as I did not open the letter, to join one of the other services was an option. I had nothing against being a member of the United States Army but down inside I wanted to follow my brother’s footsteps.

So, I went down to Andrews Air Force Base where my brother was stationed and enlisted in the Air Force with the intent on entering pilot training.  But I had a problem- you had to weigh more than 139 pounds and I was a mere 135 pounds.  So for two weeks I ate everything that was supposed to put weight on ones bones with negative results but, at the end of the two weeks, I had reached the magical number of 138 pounds.

I was advised just before going in for the weigh-in I should fill my stomach with water.  Miracle of all miracles, I tipped the scales at a 140 pounds!  Wow, awesome!  But my joy was short lived! At the next station the doctor said, “Sorry Charlie” you have a heart murmur.” And red lined me.  So, I returned home and hid in a corner of the garage, right?  No, the Colonel said the second greatest job in the Air Force is to become an Air traffic Controller.  That is the closest you will get to flying.  So, I went to the next door and signed the papers to invest four years of my life for my country.  Some called me stupid because the Army hitch would have been only two years of my life. 

But there was a problem.  I was lousy at algebra and calculus and thought analytic skills had something to do with building a submarine or something.   On the day I took the battery of test that would determine what I did for the next four years, I knew that if I blew the Air Traffic Control Tech School, I could very well end up driving a truck or becoming a cook, neither rated very high on my vocational desires list.

I could turn this epistle in a short story but that is not my intent.  I was not walking with the Lord at that time but I had something really neat and powerful going for me, I had several grandmothers, two mothers, a wife to be and a number of other prayer warriors who spend time in their War Closets.

When called into review the test results I am not sure who was more surprised, the interviewer or the interviewee, for I had nearly aced the battery of nine test.  Now, for why I felt the need to share this message with you.  As I said, I was a lousy student but God didn’t give a hoot about that.  The woman’s prayer brigade prayed me though thirteen week of intense training and three years in the field and when my tenure ended as an airman, I continued on as a member of the Air Traffic Control Industry at the Great Pittsburgh Airport for several years. 

So what did I learn at the point in my life?  God knows how to overcome weight problems, or poor grades in school.  I also learned that as a child of the King one should not dig their roots to deep but be prepared to accept His call to move to higher ground.  Jesus said, “Come fly with Me!”

Blessings,

Gramps